Apparatus for fastening buttons



(No Model.)

- L. GODDU.

APPARATUS FOR FASTENING BUTTONS.

No. 267,340. Patented Nov. 14, 1882.

UNTTnn STATES PATENT @rrrcia.

LOUIS GODDU, OF WINCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BELLE PATENT BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF KEN N EB UN K, MAINE.

APPARATUS FOR FASTENING BUTTONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 267,340, dated November 14, 1882. Application filed August 8, 1852. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS GODDU, of Winchester, county of Essex,,and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for FasteningButtons, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention is an improvement on United States Patents No. 247,032 and No. 256,307, to

which reference may be had. In the patents referred to the point of the tack was inserted by hand into the leather or other material to which the button was to be secured, and the button applied to one of the jaws of the ap- 1 paratus was then placed in position to enable the point of the tack or fastening device to be driven through the eye of the button-shank and clinched. The Patent No. 256,307 shows a forked spring, which, after the tack has been pushed nearly through the material by hand,

is caused to straddle the shank of the tack between its head and the inner side of the material, the said forked spring serving as a stop to aid in securing proper position for the point 0f the tack with relation to the surface on which the tack is to be clinched. In this my present invention the head of the tack or fastening device for the button is firmly held by a spring or clamp in or on a seat formed in one 0 of thejaws, the seat being so shaped as to insure the point of thetack,when driven through the leather or other material by closing the jaws together, entering a clinching-recess carried by the other jaw, the latter jaw referred to carrying the button in a notch at its end.

My improved apparatus generally simplifies the process of fastening the buttons upon shoes, and enables the buttons to be set much more rapidly and certainly, for with the appa- 0 ratus described in the said patent very considerable care and attention had to be exercised and given to insure the correct striking of the point of the tack or fastening against the surface upon which it was to be clinched, incor- 5. rect presentation of the said point to the said clinching-surfaceresultinginbreakingthe tack or curling its point to one side of the body of the tack, making poor work.

Figure 1 represents in side elevation myimproved apparatus for fastening or setting but- I tons with a button and tack or fastening in place; Fig. 2, an enlarged sectional detail of the jaws, button, and tack or fastening; Fig. 3, a detail of the clinching-surface of one of the jaws and the button-holding spring; Fig. 5 4, a top view of the tack or fastening holdingclamp, and Fig. 5 a button confined by a tack or fastening.

The jaws a b of the apparatus, pivoted together at 0, have suitable handles, a I), by which to operate them. The jaw or piece a has at its end a notch or seat, d, for the button B, it having a shank, 4, with an eye, all as usual. The salient end of the jaw or part a, curved or bent, as shown, toward the jaw or member I), is cut away, as shown at M, Fig. 3, to form spaces for the reception of the wire shank of the button B, and to leave a clinching-projection,2, small enough to enter the eye of the button-shank, as shown in Fig.2. This projection 2 is provided with a clinching-concavity, 3, into which the point of the tack or fastening)" enters after being forced through the material m, (shown in dotted lines,) it being of leather or cloth and forming part of a shoe or garment. The button B, while being secured to the material m, is kept in the seat 61 by the spring or arm g, connected witha at g.

The head f of thetack or fastening is placed in or on a seat, It, formed near the end of'the jaw or member I), and is held securelyin such position, as shown in the drawings, by a clamp, a, secured to the member I) by screw 5, the said clamp being made as a forked spring, as shown in Fig. 4. The seat It is preferably so inclined, as shown in the drawings, as to cause the shank of the tack or fastening to be somewhat inclined backward, as shown in the drawings, toward the pivot 0, and the seatalways presses firmly against that part of the head of the tack between its centerand the free end of the member b, so that the tack, being driven through the material and clinched through the eye of the button-shank, is always subjected to greatest pressure in the direction of the dotted line 5 8, Fig. 2, which adds very materially to the efficiency of the apparatus and insures the clinching of the shank of the tack or fastening always in the same direction-namely, along the surface 3 in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2, and through the eye of the buttonshank, clinching upon itself, as shown in Fig. 5. The member a, having the clinching-surface,is made of steel hardened after the formation of the said surface, thus avoiding the employment of a separate anvil-plate, as in the patent referred to. United States Patent No. 256,307 has a forked spring connected with the jaw member which holds the button, and the said forked spring bears against the shank of the tack or fastening; but it does not operate as the clamp a, herein shown, to at all times hold the tack-head near its shank.

The rear wall, 10, of the seat h serves as a gage for the head of the tack or fastening, so that its point will always fall in proper line with relation to the clinching-surface 3.

The parts 12 of the clamp bear with greatest force on the under side of the head of the tack or fastening about opposite the shank of the rack or between the shank-center and the outer end of the member b, as shown in Fig. 2.

The shape of the seat for the head of the tack or fastening, and its location with relation to the clinching-surface, and the direction of pressure on the head and shank of the tack or fastening when being clinched is such as to cause the shank of the tack to bend somewhat, nearly down to the head of the tack or fastening, so that the strain of the button on the tack is substantially central and obviates the tendency of the head to tip under strain on the button, as would be the case were the shank of the nail curled over only at its point or for a short distance therefrom.

I claim 1. In an apparatus for fastening buttons in an, *7 i u place, the member a, having near one end a seat for the button, and having its salient end notched, as at (6 and provided with a projection, 2, having a clinching-surface, the latter forming an integral part of the member a, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus for fastening buttons in place, the member I), provided with a seat for the head of the tack or fastening, and combined with a clamp connected with member I), and adapted to rest upon the under side of the head of the tack or fastening and keep it firmly in position on the said seat in all positions of the jaws, substantially as described.

3. The member (6, provided with the seatfor the button, and the elinching-surface2 and the button-holder 9, combined with the member I), having the seat for the head of the tack or fastening, and with the clamp connected with member I), and adapted to bear against the under side of the head of the tack and hold the tack, as described, while being inserted into and through the material and being clinched on the clinchingsurface, substantially as described.

4. The member I), having at its front end the seat provided with a wall, 10, to gage the position of the head of the tack orfastening, combined with a forked spring to straddle the central shank of the tack or fastening and bear against the under side of its head, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

LOUIS GODDU.

Vitnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, B. J. Novas. 

